Nic Rawlence

190 delegates attended #CAVEPS2025 in Kaurna Yarra / Adelaide this week! A big thanks from the organising committee to everyone involved for helping it be such a fabulous meeting! @megalibgwilia.bsky.social

Next time, Otago! 🇳🇿

Great news Nic. Congratulations.

Very well deserved!

DNA study provides 'almost perfect correlation' for first Australians' arrival A new genetic study has found Indigenous Australians travelled over two distinct routes, and 100 kilometres of open water, to reach the ancient landmass that would become Australia 60,000 to 65,000 ye...

www.abc.net.au/news/science...

Effectively communicating science with the public recognised Nic Rawlence is living his childhood dream. A renowned palaeontologist from the University of Otago has been recognised for his ability to take...

www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin...

Prestigious medal for science communicator

Associate Professor Nic Rawlence has been awarded the New Zealand Association of Scientists’ prestigious Cranwell Medal for his exceptional mahi communicating the wonders of science with the public 🏅👏

“I feel humbled and on cloud nine at the same time,” he says. Read more here ⬇️

Would be great to chat. I’ve been subjected to a smear campaign from supporters of Colossal Biosciences and it’s CEO Ben Lamm for speaking out against de-extinction.

Prestigious medal for science communicator

I’m humbled & on cloud nine to have been awarded the NZ Assoc Scientists Cranwell Medal in Science Communication. I could not have done this level of sci comm without the support of my family & wonderful lab group. This award is as much for you as it is for me www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroo...

Prehistoric Planet Ice Age promo card, Woolly mammoths.

Giant kangaroo Procoptodon from Prehistoric Planet Ice Age.

Homotherium serum from Prehistoric Planet Ice Age.

Years of work involving an amazing team at BBCSstudios Framestore AppleTV, our series #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge is out now on #AppleTV. Huge thanks to everyone involved. All 5 eps have been released!

Prestigious medal for science communicator

I’m humbled & on cloud nine to have been awarded the NZ Assoc Scientists Cranwell Medal in Science Communication. I could not have done this level of sci comm without the support of my family & wonderful lab group. This award is as much for you as it is for me www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroo...

39 people, one quarter of the CAVEPS delegates, attended our best practice workshop for collaborating with Indigenous communities. The yarning circle couldn't get any bigger. This gives me hope that the future is looking bright for decolonising vertebrate palaeontology in Australasia.

The Perfectionist Fallacy - Columnist24 A growing strand of scientific purism argues that de-extinction efforts must achieve perfect genetic fidelity before they can be taken seriously.

And we are up to hit piece #5 against critics of Colossal Biosciences and de-extinction, including me. This clearly ghostwritten piece misses the point entirely www.columnist24.com/science/8397...

I’m proud to be part of the newly formed ‘Community of Practice on Collaborating with Indigenous Peoples’ who are running a 3-hour workshop this afternoon, plus a session on Thursday with invited speakers Jade Turner and Jacinta Koolmatrie.

Huge thanks to our sponsor Australasian Palaeontologists.

39 people, one quarter of the CAVEPS delegates, attended our best practice workshop for collaborating with Indigenous communities. The yarning circle couldn't get any bigger. This gives me hope that the future is looking bright for decolonising vertebrate palaeontology in Australasia.

The Perfectionist Fallacy - Columnist24 A growing strand of scientific purism argues that de-extinction efforts must achieve perfect genetic fidelity before they can be taken seriously.

And we are up to hit piece #5 against critics of Colossal Biosciences and de-extinction, including me. This clearly ghostwritten piece misses the point entirely www.columnist24.com/science/8397...

Genomic evidence for the Holocene codispersal of dogs and humans across Eastern Eurasia As the first domestic species, dogs likely dispersed with different cultural groups during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed 73 ancient dog genomes, including 17 ...

🚨 New paper alert 🚨

Our research, published today in Science, reveals remarkable concordance between human and dog genomes through time, highlighting how deeply intertwined our evolutionary histories have been over the past 11,000 years.

🔗 Read the full paper here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

What an incredible resource for those starting out in ancient DNA! Thanks once again @oskolkov.bsky.social for being our first #AaRCademy speaker

🚨 PNAS Special Feature 🐕

We analysed genomes of historical German Shepherds to reveal how bottlenecks linked to WWII and the use of popular sires led to significant declines in genomic health. We also found an early 20th century wolf-dog hybrid!

🔗 Full paper here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🚨 PNAS Special Feature 2 🐕

We used ancient DNA and dietary isotopes to show that landscape modification and the introduction of European dogs impacted dingo populations across Australia.

🔗 Full paper here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

I have no idea how we are expected to fund our postgraduate student’s studies. To be fair, I’ve been funding mine from my own pocket for years, using money I earned from paid talks & radio/paper columns. But I’m approaching 2026 with no paid columns anymore & no paid talks lined up. It’s a bit scary

Testing finds Chatham Islands' waka Rēkohu from mid 1400s The waka was unearthed by father and son Vincent and Nikau Dix.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

The art and science behind 'Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age' Explore iconic Ice Age creatures in Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age. Learn how the team brought these creatures back to life in an exclusive interview.

The Ice Age megafauna has never felt so real: the art and science behind ‘Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age’, a #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge interview with myself and series producer Matthew Thompson... 3dvf.com/en/redaction...

AWMS2025 | AUSTRALASIAN WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT SOCIETY

Is anyone I know going to the Australasian Wildlife Management Society conference in Queenstown in early December awms.org.au/conference/a... 1/3 🧵

Mythbusting de-extinction to sort fact from fiction De-extinction hit the headlines recently with the ‘resurrection’ of the dire wolf and the push to bring back the moa. However, can scientists really bring back extinct animals? And more importantly, s...

The wonderful people at the NZ Science Learning Hub have turned my talk on MythBusting de-extinction to sort fact from fiction into a freely available educational resource. You can check it out here www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/my...

Māori scientists (biologists, ecologists, geneticists), elders, Indigenous IP experts, who can ask tough questions & won't be swayed by a Colossal PR charm offensive. The engagement that occurred for the moa de-extinction project was three cherry-picked people - one archaeologist & two historians...

I'd go as well but I'll be away too.

Fantastic deëxtinction fiction vs #DeExtinction facts 🧪🐺🦤🦣

Who's on the panel? Is there Māori representation? Colossal needs to be asked tough questions that they won't like, incl. about their cherry picking of Indigenous support & the fact that there's little to no support for de-extinction amongst Māori for this colonialist endeavour. 3/3

@itiscolossal.bsky.social is sending their conservation partnerships manager to continue their charm offensive & to give a talk on "Restoring the past to protect the future: How moa de-extinction is reimagining how we protect biodiversity", followed by a panel discussion on de-extinction. 2/3

AWMS2025 | AUSTRALASIAN WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT SOCIETY

Is anyone I know going to the Australasian Wildlife Management Society conference in Queenstown in early December awms.org.au/conference/a... 1/3 🧵